Sexy Beast

There have been a raft of tough British gangster films that have been released in the last few years - most prominently kicked off by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and rounded out by Snatch - but in my humble opinion, Sexy Beast would have to be the best of the bunch so far.

Sexy Beast opens with an image of Gal (Ray Winstone) contentedly working up a lobster-like suntan by the pool in his pristine hillside villa. Having recently been released from a nine year jail term in the UK, Gal has turned his back on a life of crime to retire to Spain with his beautiful wife, Deedee.

A moment on into the film, a huge boulder flies down the hillside, crashing into the pool and sparing Gal's life by only inches. In the first few minutes of the film it becomes clear - Gal's domestic bliss is about to be shattered.

A dinner date with friends Jackie and Harry reveals what is to come - a call has been received from a man in London, expressing that Gal's participation is required for one last big job. The man who requires Gal is Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) and his name is enough to strike the fear of God into all four of them.

Don soon arrives in Spain to put his proposal to Gal in person - and proves to be as much a force of nature as a London hard-man. But while Gal is sure that he is firmly retired and does not want to return to the life of a gangster, 'no' is a word with which Don is unfamiliar, and a searing battle of wills ensues between the two men, opening Gal's whole life up to question and serious threat.

Control and menace are the two moods which pervade this film. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the way it cuts across the way the Brit crime film genre has been going over the past few years- there are no bumbling 20 year olds looking for their first big score in this film - but rather a window into the mind games of career criminals. That explains why this film is not so much focussed on the job to which much of the film's conversation refers - but to the battle of wills raged between it's too principles.

This film's touches of tongue-in-cheek wit and unexpected surrealism, coupled with its powerhouse performances, stylish cinematography, methodical pacing and dramatic use of music comes together to create a firmly accomplished psychological drama.

Jonathon Glazer's directorial debut is something to be applauded, and this fact was recognised during the 2001 BAFTA awards, where Sexy Beast was nominated for THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD for the outstanding British Film of the Year.

Recommended.

Vanessa Long

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